Christmas Meditation: He Was In The World

Merry Christmas!  Christmas Mass presents us with four sets of readings: for the Vigil, for the midnight, for during the day, and for the evening.  They are all very beautiful.  I am going to present for meditation the Gospel reading of the Christmas Mass During the Day.  The reading is the exquisite first half of the first chapter of John’s Gospel.  This might be my favorite passage in all the bible.

 

In the beginning was the Word,

        and the Word was with God,

        and the Word was God.

    He was in the beginning with God.

    All things came to be through him,

        and without him nothing came to be.

    What came to be through him was life,

        and this life was the light of the human race;

    the light shines in the darkness,

        and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

    He was in the world,

        and the world came to be through him,

        but the world did not know him.

    He came to what was his own,

        but his own people did not accept him.

 

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to those who believe in his name,

who were born not by natural generation

nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision

but of God.

    And the Word became flesh

        and made his dwelling among us,

        and we saw his glory,

        the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

        full of grace and truth.

~Jn 1:1-18

I am sure everyone is Christmas’d out, so just one video clip.  I am going to let Bishop Barron give a little exegesis on John's first chapter.  As he says in the video, books can be written to explain these eighteen lines fully.  His fifteen minutes just touches on the subject,

 

Sunday Meditation: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

 

For today's hymn, let’s select the most holy of Christmas songs, “Silent Night,” here sung by Josh Groban.

 

This is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, and I found out today that it’s Pope Francis’ favorite.  You can read about that here.  And this lovely video clip explains the history of the carol.